FINRA Series 79 8-week study plan

This eight-week plan assumes a candidate can devote roughly 10 to 12 focused hours each week. That is a planning example, not an official Series 79 average or a pass guarantee. A candidate with strong accounting and deal experience may need fewer learning blocks; a career changer may need more time for fundamentals. Use the plan's sequence and move the appointment if your diagnostics show that a major gap remains.

The current exam has 75 scored questions across three functions: data analysis and evaluation (37 items, 49%), underwriting and new financing (20, 27%), and M&A, tender offers and restructuring (18, 24%). It also includes five unidentified unscored questions. The schedule gives the biggest function consistent practice while dedicating separate weeks to the other two. Do not skip an area because it has fewer items.

Weekly study rhythm

A repeatable week might include four sessions of 90 minutes and one longer three-hour block. Use one session to learn a topic, another to solve questions, and the longer block for cumulative review. If your schedule is different, preserve the same pattern: new learning, retrieval without notes, error correction, and delayed practice. Reserve at least one rest period so preparation does not become a sequence of late-night rereads.

Keep a mistake log with the function, concept, error cause, and next review date. For a calculation, record the setup and unit. For a rule, note the party and transaction stage. Mark correct guesses as uncertain. Revisit those questions after several days. A record of why you missed something is more useful than saving a list of answer letters.

Week 1: diagnostic and accounting foundations

Take a short diagnostic with fresh questions from all three functions. Do not worry about the score; use it to find your starting point. Then review how the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement connect. Study cash, receivables, inventory, debt, equity, revenue, operating expenses, depreciation, interest, taxes, and net income. Practice distinguishing a balance at a date from a flow over a period.

Work basic ratios: current and quick ratios, working capital, gross and operating margins, interest coverage, and debt to EBITDA. For every ratio, write what the numerator and denominator mean. If the ratio rises, explain whether that necessarily signals improvement or could reflect a problem such as accumulating inventory or uncollected receivables.

End the week with 20 to 25 mixed financial-statement questions. Explain each miss in a sentence. If an item gives many values, identify the one it asks for and circle only the inputs needed. This establishes a careful process before adding valuation complexity.

Week 2: valuation and enterprise-to-equity analysis

Study market capitalization, enterprise value, equity value, net debt, EV/EBITDA, P/E, EV/sales, price-to-book, DCF, DDM, WACC, and IRR. Focus on what each metric compares. Enterprise multiples use enterprise value and a measure available to capital providers; equity multiples compare equity value with equity earnings or per-share amounts.

Work the bridge repeatedly. A company has EBITDA of $30 million and trades at 8 times EBITDA, so enterprise value is $240 million. With $70 million debt and $10 million cash, net debt is $60 million and simplified equity value is $180 million. With 20 million diluted shares, the implied per-share figure is $9. Check that you did not divide enterprise value by shares or subtract gross debt without cash.

Practice comparable-company selection and precedent transactions. Write why each peer belongs in the group and what makes a transaction different. Review dilution, accretion and dilution, sum-of-the-parts analysis, and financing alternatives. End with a mixed set that includes calculations and short interpretation questions.

Week 3: financial analysis and due diligence

Return to Function 1 through company and industry analysis, data collection, performance measures, shareholding, market trends, and due diligence. Practice identifying which information should be verified before it enters a model or marketing material. When two sources disagree, the appropriate answer often begins with reconciling the inconsistency rather than selecting whichever figure is convenient.

Study financing alternatives: debt, equity, hybrid securities, primary and secondary offerings, private investments in public equity, and forward sales. Create a comparison by proceeds, dilution, priority, investor base, timing, and disclosure. The correct choice is fact-dependent. A company with high leverage may have different constraints from a growing issuer with substantial debt capacity.

Take a 30-question timed set weighted toward Function 1. Review whether mistakes came from the statement input, formula, arithmetic, or interpretation. Update the error log and revisit the highest-frequency issue later in the week.

Week 4: underwriting and offerings

Focus on Function 2's public and private offering structures, underwriting, registration, disclosure documents, distribution, allocations, and participant roles. Draw a transaction sequence from issuer decision through investor distribution. Add issuer, underwriter, counsel, auditors, investors, and regulators, then note who performs each step.

Compare primary issuance with secondary sales. If an issuer sells 8 million new shares at $15, the issuer raises $120 million before expenses. If an existing holder sells 8 million shares at the same price, the issuer does not receive those proceeds. If both sell, separate the primary and secondary amounts. Practice dilution when new shares are issued.

For regulation, sort the facts before applying a rule: public or private, issuer or selling holder, type of security, investor group, marketing activity, and transaction stage. Avoid memorizing an offering document in isolation. Take a 25-question rule set and make a comparison table for every distractor you missed.

Week 5: M&A, tender offers and restructuring

Study negotiated mergers, tender offers, acquisition consideration, premiums, exchange ratios, approvals, financial restructuring, claims, and priority. For each problem, identify the parties, value offered, target's reference price, security issued, and question being asked. A 20% offer premium is calculated against the unaffected target price, not the offer price.

Practice a recovery waterfall with simplified numbers. If enterprise value is $100 million and senior claims are $70 million, no more than $30 million remains for junior claims before transaction costs or other claims. Common equity is behind the debt. Then change the enterprise value or claim amounts and explain what changes. Keep the example's assumptions explicit.

Review tender offers as a distinct process. Use a timeline showing the offer, disclosures, holders' decisions, possible changes, and competing proposals. Finish with a 25-question set across M&A and restructuring. If you miss a question, determine whether the error was economic, legal, or about sequencing.

Week 6: integrate the three functions

Switch from chapter practice to integrated scenarios. A single prompt may include company valuation, a financing choice, and a transaction rule. Read the final request first, then mark the key facts and write a short calculation or decision path. Mix around 49% Function 1, 27% Function 2, and 24% Function 3 in a larger set to reflect the blueprint.

Complete a 40-question timed set in about 75 minutes, using the full exam's approximate pace. Track not just wrong answers but items that took too long and correct guesses. Review the weakest two topics with targeted lessons and fresh questions. If one function is substantially weaker, shift the next week's time while maintaining brief review in the stronger areas.

Create a one-page review sheet from memory, then compare it with your notes. Include EV-to-equity bridge, common ratios, ownership dilution, offer premium, exchange ratio, and a few transaction-rule distinctions. Use it as a learning aid; the live exam is closed book.

Week 7: timed practice and targeted repair

Take a full 80-item practice simulation in 150 minutes if your materials provide one. The practice set should be treated as a timing exercise, not a prediction of the FINRA result. Review the whole set before taking another. Categorize misses and uncertainty by function, then set two or three repair goals for the week.

If a valuation question was slow, practice the setup separately: requested quantity, formula, inputs, calculation, unit. If an offering question was wrong, draw the transaction route and identify the participant. If an M&A question was confusing, distinguish consideration, premium, ownership, and process. After each focused repair, answer a fresh mixed question to make sure the concept transfers.

Avoid spending the entire week on a second mock. Use smaller sets to repair weaknesses and then one more timed section or simulation if it gives useful evidence. Repeat questions only after enough delay to test recall rather than recognition.

Week 8: final review and exam readiness

Begin the final week with one last timed mixed set early enough to review it. Revisit high-value errors across all functions. Confirm you can perform core calculations and explain the main offering and deal distinctions without notes. Do not try to memorize every rule paragraph the night before; use a concise list of topics that repeatedly caused errors.

In the last days, keep sessions shorter. Review your error log, work a few fresh questions, and stop when concentration fades. Confirm your appointment details and the time needed for travel and check-in. The exam itself is 150 minutes, while the full appointment includes tutorial and survey time as well.

If the final diagnostic shows large gaps in more than one function or you cannot finish a mixed set, discuss the timing with your sponsor. Moving an appointment may be better than treating the original date as immovable, but the firm and enrollment window determine what options are available.

Adjusting the plan

If you have fewer than eight weeks, preserve the order but compress repeated introductory sessions only when you already know the material. Do not remove mixed practice or the final timed review. If you have more than eight weeks, add spaced review and repeat diagnostics rather than stretching each topic into low-focus reading.

For candidates who have already taken the SIE, remember that Series 79 is the specialized investment banking exam. Do not spend most of this schedule relearning general market basics unless the diagnostic shows a gap. The bulk of practice should map to the current Series 79 functions and transaction reasoning.

A sample week around a full-time job

One workable 11-hour week could use three 90-minute weekday sessions and two longer weekend blocks of 3.25 hours. On the first weekday, learn or review one concept. On the second, solve a short set without notes and correct it. On the third, revisit an older topic through retrieval. Use one weekend block for calculations or transaction diagrams, then finish with a mixed set and its review. This sequence separates learning from testing instead of repeating the same reading each session.

For example, in week 2 the Monday session can cover EV and equity value, Wednesday can use eight short bridge calculations, and Friday can retrieve ratios learned in week 1. Saturday can compare trading multiples and transaction comparables. Sunday can mix those topics with statement analysis. If work disrupts Monday, move that task to the next open session rather than dropping the delayed review.

During a longer block, take a short break after concentrated problem solving. Review the mistakes while the reasoning is still fresh, then write only the rule or calculation needed to fix them. Avoid copying the entire question into notes. For example: 'Used enterprise value over net income; use EV/EBITDA for the provided multiple, then bridge to equity only if asked.' That note is easier to retrieve later.

What to do with mock results

Set aside at least as much review time as the timed simulation if the questions are new. Sort missed items into knowledge, setup, reading, arithmetic, and timing. If 12 of 80 items were wrong, do not simply spend the next day rereading 12 chapters. Look for repeats: four misses may all come from confusing enterprise and equity value, while three may reflect misunderstanding primary versus secondary shares.

A mock should change the plan. If it shows a weak function, assign two or three targeted sessions and test that function again with fresh questions. If the score is balanced but the test ran long, practice shorter timed sets and mark hard calculations for a second pass. If every section is strong but you guessed frequently, review uncertain items before concluding that the material is secure.

Keep the final mock early enough to repair its findings. A practice test taken the night before provides little time to work on the gaps it uncovers. The last day is better used for concise recall, appointment preparation, and rest than for a new full-length test.

Sources

FINRA Series 79 Content Outline (2025) and FINRA Qualification Exams page.